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The O-Zone Podcast | Ventrell Miller on Overcoming Adversity and Earning Reps · The Jacksonville Jaguars Official Podcast Network

• 0:06
  Speaker 1: All right, welcome to this week's ozone podcast and getting
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: it posted a little later this week so we can
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: talk about guess what OTAs? And I'm joined here by
• 0:15
  Speaker 1: uh Cannanie Stevens. As usual, we had duff in last week,
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: so big bar for you to clear today.
• 0:21
  Speaker 2: I can only hope to be marginally as good as well.
• 0:25
  Speaker 1: And I can tell you I doubt either of us
• 0:28
  Speaker 1: will be as good as Tough because he's outstanding. So
• 0:31
  Speaker 1: and now they'll be joined later on by Jaguars linebacker
• 0:35
  Speaker 1: Vitrel Miller and uh, he'll has would be good. He's
• 0:39
  Speaker 1: a great story right now. So uh six minutes, three
• 0:42
  Speaker 1: cold takes, Uh talk about OTAs.
• 0:46
  Speaker 2: We're joking about this on jag Zam.
• 0:47
  Speaker 3: I always forget what the O is, so I had
• 0:49
  Speaker 3: to like write it down to mind myself. It's organized
• 0:51
  Speaker 3: team activities, but because they're voluntary, in my mind, it's
• 0:54
  Speaker 3: always optional team activity. Okay, you know, you can just
• 0:57
  Speaker 3: put in whatever should call him.
• 0:59
  Speaker 1: That, and it's that would be.
• 1:01
  Speaker 3: Better because they are optional at the end of the day.
• 1:03
  Speaker 3: But we've been seeing great turnout. I think that was
• 1:05
  Speaker 3: important as well. I did want to mention because I
• 1:08
  Speaker 3: know we had an open media on the first day
• 1:11
  Speaker 3: of OTA's Josh Heinzelin wasn't at those, but he's been
• 1:14
  Speaker 3: here since as a part of otz En.
• 1:15
  Speaker 2: We've seen him a ton of the off season program.
• 1:17
  Speaker 3: But also just a huge turn I mean, there's very
• 1:19
  Speaker 3: limited people that haven't been involved so far in the
• 1:22
  Speaker 3: off season.
• 1:22
  Speaker 1: Yeah, and that's that's become less of a thing over time,
• 1:30
  Speaker 1: and I think the media still tends to make a
• 1:33
  Speaker 1: big deal because a lot of us are older media guys,
• 1:37
  Speaker 1: so we remember sort of when it used to be
• 1:39
  Speaker 1: a big issue, and especially in the South, I can't
• 1:42
  Speaker 1: really remember. I guess there was a few years ago
• 1:44
  Speaker 1: where Jalen didn't come for one of the OTAs and
• 1:48
  Speaker 1: he was notably absent, But beyond that, guys with the
• 1:52
  Speaker 1: Jags have usually Fred Taylor, Moyst, Gens Drew back in
• 1:55
  Speaker 1: the day didn't go some but this turnout this year
• 2:00
  Speaker 1: is again outstanding, and I guess I wouldn't expect anything
• 2:04
  Speaker 1: different because so many guys live here, and I guess
• 2:09
  Speaker 1: it was a bad turnout, it would be news. I'm
• 2:12
  Speaker 1: not surprised with this bunch, the way they approach, with
• 2:14
  Speaker 1: the energy around here right now, I would have been
• 2:17
  Speaker 1: surprised if there were any if there was any weirdness.
• 2:20
  Speaker 3: And it's such a nice facility you're talking about, Floyd.
• 2:22
  Speaker 3: Whether the're here most of the time anyway, if they're
• 2:24
  Speaker 3: not here, they're working out somewhere else. The way the
• 2:27
  Speaker 3: NFL is right now, there is very few people that
• 2:29
  Speaker 3: aren't fully football, you know, all year round. They take
• 2:33
  Speaker 3: a month off maybe after the season, but they're working
• 2:35
  Speaker 3: out even if they're not here, they're just working out
• 2:37
  Speaker 3: with their guy.
• 2:38
  Speaker 1: So and Josh has worked out previously in Arizona and
• 2:42
  Speaker 1: guess what he hit. Some of his best years have
• 2:45
  Speaker 1: come from after working out in Arizona. So there are
• 2:48
  Speaker 1: certain guys. I think sometimes fans don't necessarily see what
• 2:55
  Speaker 1: we do inside buildings about how certain guys work. I
• 3:02
  Speaker 1: could go from locker room clean out day on in
• 3:07
  Speaker 1: January until week one and not see Josh and it
• 3:13
  Speaker 1: would never occur to me. They wouldn't be ready.
• 3:15
  Speaker 2: Yeah, you would still feel fine about it.
• 3:18
  Speaker 1: So there are some guys who struggle more with that.
• 3:21
  Speaker 1: But Josh is very internally focused. So I think the
• 3:25
  Speaker 1: big news was on Tuesday after practice we saw BTJ
• 3:30
  Speaker 1: have a couple of catches downfield. Brian Thomas Jr. I
• 3:34
  Speaker 1: thought it was more significant that Liam talked about that
• 3:38
  Speaker 1: sum and that Liam talked about the need and the
• 3:44
  Speaker 1: developing chemistry between him and Trevor and acknowledging that, hey,
• 3:49
  Speaker 1: we need to get deep more. BTJ is a guy
• 3:51
  Speaker 1: who can get deep. So I thought the fact that
• 3:55
  Speaker 1: Liam put some credence in, hey, they're looking good together,
• 3:58
  Speaker 1: that mattered to me more than actually seeing it on field.
• 4:02
  Speaker 3: I think this team more than others they play similar
• 4:06
  Speaker 3: to how they practice in the terms of it. We
• 4:09
  Speaker 3: saw BTJ struggle last year and we kind of saw
• 4:11
  Speaker 3: him struggling in camp even right that wasn't necessarily coming
• 4:15
  Speaker 3: out of the blue. We were like, oh, this isn't
• 4:16
  Speaker 3: really coming together. Maybe he'll turn it on when the
• 4:18
  Speaker 3: lights come on for the game. But and Trevor as well,
• 4:21
  Speaker 3: Like weeks that Trevor doesn't practice, he doesn't play his
• 4:24
  Speaker 3: best right. So we've seen there's and maybe that's just
• 4:26
  Speaker 3: the new generation in general, but practicing a little bit,
• 4:30
  Speaker 3: what we've seen is how it ends up coming out
• 4:32
  Speaker 3: on the fields. Specifically now with Liam's offense, it's very complicated.
• 4:36
  Speaker 2: You need to be there and.
• 4:37
  Speaker 3: Know what's going on if you're going to be involved
• 4:39
  Speaker 3: in it on game day. So for us early on
• 4:41
  Speaker 3: to see Brian Thomas Senior and Trevor working well together,
• 4:45
  Speaker 3: that's great because at times last year, even in training camp,
• 4:48
  Speaker 3: there was a lot of concern. You could see visibly
• 4:50
  Speaker 3: Brian Thomas Junior was getting frustrated at times during training camp.
• 4:53
  Speaker 3: So to see him being successful, looking fluid, running and
• 4:57
  Speaker 3: not seeing any visible frustration, just that chemistry to get
• 5:00
  Speaker 3: that's a positive thing, especially at this time of the year.
• 5:02
  Speaker 1: And I hope and think I like BTJ. I don't
• 5:06
  Speaker 1: know him as well as I know some players, but
• 5:10
  Speaker 1: he's a guy who wants to be good. I can't
• 5:14
  Speaker 1: imagine last year that there wasn't some I guess maybe
• 5:19
  Speaker 1: internal pressure of oh, I've got to have twelve hundred
• 5:21
  Speaker 1: yards again, I've got to have ten touchdowns. I expect this.
• 5:25
  Speaker 1: He can be a really, really, really good player for
• 5:27
  Speaker 1: this team. And have him Jacoby Parker all catching around
• 5:34
  Speaker 1: eight point fifty and six or seven touchdown. I mean,
• 5:37
  Speaker 1: I think this team may be at its best if
• 5:39
  Speaker 1: all of those guys have similar numbers big games periodically
• 5:43
  Speaker 1: and force defenses to pay attention to them. One game
• 5:47
  Speaker 1: open up some from somebody else the next game. I
• 5:50
  Speaker 1: think that's where if BTJ can prove again that he
• 5:55
  Speaker 1: is a legitimate deep threat that you have to cover,
• 5:58
  Speaker 1: which I think he will do, then I think this
• 6:01
  Speaker 1: offense gets that much better. I think that's what they're
• 6:03
  Speaker 1: working on now and in the offseason. So Liam also
• 6:08
  Speaker 1: said Tuesday they will have joint practices, probably one joint
• 6:13
  Speaker 1: practice that sounds like before all three preseason games. I
• 6:21
  Speaker 1: think that's interesting because of how it means he will
• 6:25
  Speaker 1: handle preseason. He made pretty clear I think at the
• 6:29
  Speaker 1: owners meetings that there may not be many starters playing
• 6:34
  Speaker 1: in games that he's going to lean into that whole
• 6:37
  Speaker 1: idea of we can get the best reps in practice
• 6:41
  Speaker 1: and let the preseason games be about younger guys making
• 6:44
  Speaker 1: the team, about guys we're evaluating. And again, who knows
• 6:49
  Speaker 1: how he'll feel his training camp goes on. He may
• 6:51
  Speaker 1: see something, Hey, I need to see these guys in
• 6:52
  Speaker 1: a game. But he wanted more last year and he's
• 6:56
  Speaker 1: got the maximum out this year.
• 6:58
  Speaker 2: We knew that was his kind of game plan going
• 7:00
  Speaker 2: into the preseason.
• 7:00
  Speaker 3: He says he was able to figure that out with
• 7:02
  Speaker 3: the scheduling and He's not the only one.
• 7:04
  Speaker 2: A lot of coaches feel they can get more out
• 7:06
  Speaker 2: of a.
• 7:06
  Speaker 3: Joint practice because they can control it, so they can
• 7:09
  Speaker 3: have the situations they want, they can run the plays
• 7:12
  Speaker 3: they want to against you know, certain looks and whatnot,
• 7:15
  Speaker 3: and they can both get benefit out of that more
• 7:17
  Speaker 3: than they would out of a game because there's only
• 7:19
  Speaker 3: so much you can control, and also takes some of
• 7:21
  Speaker 3: the injury risk out of it. Obviously it's still football,
• 7:24
  Speaker 3: but a little bit of you know, maybe concerns of
• 7:26
  Speaker 3: getting hurt in a preseason game.
• 7:27
  Speaker 2: So if you can control it, get the same information out.
• 7:30
  Speaker 3: Of a practice not having to do in a preseason game,
• 7:32
  Speaker 3: like it makes a lot of sense. Also, I think
• 7:35
  Speaker 3: you always get a little bit, a little bit some
• 7:36
  Speaker 3: extra when they're in a practice against not their own teammates, right,
• 7:40
  Speaker 3: and it's a different kind of practice. So I really
• 7:42
  Speaker 3: do see the value in that, and it brings little
• 7:45
  Speaker 3: more competition so that way when the season comes around,
• 7:47
  Speaker 3: you're already ready to rock.
• 7:48
  Speaker 1: Yeah, And I think it's sometimes tough for fans because
• 7:54
  Speaker 1: you see a preseason game on TV and I fall
• 7:56
  Speaker 1: they can do it too, just because they're in uniform
• 8:00
  Speaker 1: in a helmet in the preseason game makes you think
• 8:04
  Speaker 1: somehow this is more important or better preparation than practice.
• 8:09
  Speaker 1: And I think fans only see those. So if they
• 8:15
  Speaker 1: get to the point, hey, we haven't seen Trevor play
• 8:18
  Speaker 1: in the preseason and the rate of seasons starting, they
• 8:21
  Speaker 1: think that means he hasn't gotten the reps because they
• 8:23
  Speaker 1: haven't seen it. But I mean it's I would be surprised,
• 8:28
  Speaker 1: I guess if in five or ten years, because I
• 8:31
  Speaker 1: think they'll go to two preseason games at some point
• 8:33
  Speaker 1: when they go to eighteen that most teams don't play
• 8:37
  Speaker 1: their frontline guys. I think you will see a general
• 8:40
  Speaker 1: feeling of we can get this done in practice where
• 8:42
  Speaker 1: it's safe. So I think this is the trend going forward.
• 8:44
  Speaker 1: So Travis Hunter spoke this week at the Planet Fitness event.
• 8:54
  Speaker 1: He was clearly involved in enthusiastic on Tuesday. Any thoughts
• 9:00
  Speaker 1: on Travis.
• 9:01
  Speaker 3: He's always enthusiastic, right, Like, that's kind of his personality.
• 9:05
  Speaker 3: We see him at practice, we see him in the building,
• 9:07
  Speaker 3: so it's a little bit different for us. I know
• 9:08
  Speaker 3: people haven't seen him in a while because he got
• 9:09
  Speaker 3: hurt halfway through the season. Haven't heard from him for
• 9:11
  Speaker 3: a while, so, but he's out there every day, even
• 9:14
  Speaker 3: in OTAs. He's not fully practicing, but he's basically in
• 9:18
  Speaker 3: the huddle with Trevor hearing a play call and then
• 9:20
  Speaker 3: he just steps out. Other than that, he's involved as
• 9:22
  Speaker 3: he can be. And I think, you know, obviously unfortunately
• 9:25
  Speaker 3: he was hurt in his first season, but it's given
• 9:28
  Speaker 3: him some time to get in the playbook.
• 9:29
  Speaker 2: And for someone who's going.
• 9:30
  Speaker 3: To play two positions, you got to learn the whole playbook,
• 9:32
  Speaker 3: so it gives him some extra time to study.
• 9:34
  Speaker 1: Yeah, and I think that will continue to be. Like
• 9:37
  Speaker 1: we've talked about it on and off the air, I
• 9:40
  Speaker 1: think the reality is Travis Hunter will be a big
• 9:44
  Speaker 1: storyline in September because I don't know, I have no
• 9:48
  Speaker 1: idea how much he'll play in the preseason and who knows,
• 9:51
  Speaker 1: but we really don't know what it'll look like yet.
• 9:59
  Speaker 1: There's a lot of belief within the team that it's
• 10:01
  Speaker 1: going to be exactly what they thought it was going
• 10:04
  Speaker 1: to be coming in. But with only seven games last year,
• 10:08
  Speaker 1: I don't know that they ever got to their best
• 10:14
  Speaker 1: practices with Travis Hunter. Not best practice on the field,
• 10:18
  Speaker 1: but how they really want that to look, so I
• 10:20
  Speaker 1: think they're still working through it a little bit. But
• 10:23
  Speaker 1: everything my understanding around I haven't talked to people around here,
• 10:26
  Speaker 1: is everything is big time hopes for defense, but with
• 10:34
  Speaker 1: no thought that he's not going to contribute offensively. I
• 10:36
  Speaker 1: don't know how many plays that'll be, but I think
• 10:39
  Speaker 1: he's going to matter a great deal on both sides
• 10:41
  Speaker 1: of the ball.
• 10:42
  Speaker 3: So they're very vocal about it. He's going to play
• 10:44
  Speaker 3: both sides of the football. Yeah, they're not backing down
• 10:46
  Speaker 3: on that.
• 10:47
  Speaker 4: Eight.
• 10:47
  Speaker 1: Yeah. So, without further ado, let's get to Ventrel Miller
• 10:53
  Speaker 1: with the Ozone Podcast interview. I'm excited about this. I'm
• 10:56
  Speaker 1: probably more excited than you are. But I appreciate you
• 10:58
  Speaker 1: joining us during the off season. I know you got
• 11:01
  Speaker 1: a lot of a lot of other stuff going on,
• 11:04
  Speaker 1: and uh, I'll be honest, when I was trying to
• 11:07
  Speaker 1: think about what to talk to you about, I kept
• 11:11
  Speaker 1: coming back to perseverance with you. Uh, and when I
• 11:15
  Speaker 1: think of you, that's what I think of Am I
• 11:18
  Speaker 1: reading that right? I mean there's been a lot of
• 11:21
  Speaker 1: perseverance and a lot of overcoming from you in your career.
• 11:24
  Speaker 4: Well, it's definitely.
• 11:25
  Speaker 5: I just remember being heard being heard a lot, I
• 11:29
  Speaker 5: guess in college and stuff.
• 11:30
  Speaker 4: So my word was always being resilient.
• 11:32
  Speaker 5: So always whenever you're going through hard, hard things, challenging things,
• 11:36
  Speaker 5: keep your keep your head down and keep grinding getting
• 11:39
  Speaker 5: through things and being resilient.
• 11:40
  Speaker 4: Don't let it, don't let it affect you too much.
• 11:43
  Speaker 1: And even in the NFL, you know you've got your
• 11:46
  Speaker 1: chance and you played and then you know last year
• 11:50
  Speaker 1: going in co started with Devin and then he plays
• 11:52
  Speaker 1: well and maybe not quite the role you wanted last year,
• 11:56
  Speaker 1: kept playing through it and now an opportunity. Even in
• 12:01
  Speaker 1: the NFL, you've continued to just sort of I guess
• 12:05
  Speaker 1: it's a horrible cliche because people say it all the time,
• 12:07
  Speaker 1: but you've been about staying the course and just doing
• 12:10
  Speaker 1: what you can control, right.
• 12:11
  Speaker 5: Right, That's that's the most important thing. You always always
• 12:14
  Speaker 5: got to control what you can control. Let the outside
• 12:17
  Speaker 5: things impact your attitude when you're coming in the building,
• 12:20
  Speaker 5: because when you do that, things like that, you're just
• 12:22
  Speaker 5: not gonna get better. So if you're dwelling known stuff
• 12:24
  Speaker 5: like that. So always keeping up positive attitude with things,
• 12:27
  Speaker 5: and they say, come on, not trying to get better
• 12:29
  Speaker 5: at each and every day.
• 12:30
  Speaker 1: How many times, either Florida or at the Jags. There's
• 12:36
  Speaker 1: been times where you could have just said, you know what,
• 12:38
  Speaker 1: that's it, right, I mean as a rookie you come in,
• 12:42
  Speaker 1: didn't get a chance because of the injury Florida. I mean,
• 12:46
  Speaker 1: has there been times where you thought what am I doing?
• 12:48
  Speaker 5: Or I wouldn't necessarily say that I'm a football football guy,
• 12:53
  Speaker 5: been plans for so long, so really quit and never
• 12:56
  Speaker 5: never really is an option for me. But I mean,
• 12:58
  Speaker 5: like even at Florida, I broke my foot in the
• 13:01
  Speaker 5: last the last my last year at Florida, the second
• 13:04
  Speaker 5: game of the season, but pushing through that just knowing,
• 13:07
  Speaker 5: Neil this was my last season. So in't always been
• 13:11
  Speaker 5: a pretty pretty tough guy, so with things like that,
• 13:14
  Speaker 5: So I don't know, I'm always trying to persevere and
• 13:18
  Speaker 5: do what I can to help the team.
• 13:19
  Speaker 4: For sure.
• 13:20
  Speaker 1: What is this opportunity at hand now going into year four?
• 13:29
  Speaker 1: What does it mean to you? It feels like it
• 13:31
  Speaker 1: might be the right opportunity at the right time for you.
• 13:34
  Speaker 5: Right Uh, Man, I'm excited for the excited for the year.
• 13:39
  Speaker 5: Also knowing nothing, nothing is really handed to you. So
• 13:41
  Speaker 5: I got to go out and work and earn, earn,
• 13:43
  Speaker 5: whatever I get. So, but I'm excited for the I
• 13:46
  Speaker 5: feel like things falling into place for him a little bit,
• 13:49
  Speaker 5: getting getting to know the system better, taking year in
• 13:51
  Speaker 5: so I'm feeling confident and comfortable going going into this year.
• 13:55
  Speaker 1: I've got to ask you, for people who are watching,
• 13:57
  Speaker 1: where did you get the shirt? How long have you
• 14:00
  Speaker 1: had it? Uh? I'm probably original because I mean, sure
• 14:04
  Speaker 1: thirty five years?
• 14:04
  Speaker 4: Again, I shot up, They don't tell me.
• 14:07
  Speaker 5: Brandon told me he actually had that shirt when he
• 14:09
  Speaker 5: was like five years little and it was so big
• 14:11
  Speaker 5: on him.
• 14:11
  Speaker 4: But uh, it was a vented It's a basically adventaged shirt.
• 14:14
  Speaker 5: But I got it from a guy no name. Jesse
• 14:17
  Speaker 5: had an advantage list shot but ended up getting this shirt.
• 14:21
  Speaker 5: Wanted the little jat wise benued shirts.
• 14:23
  Speaker 4: So this was the one I picked.
• 14:24
  Speaker 1: Up because to date me, I was actually working at
• 14:27
  Speaker 1: the newspaper when that headline came out. So you were
• 14:30
  Speaker 1: talking to an old man, I'm talking to a young
• 14:33
  Speaker 1: For you, it's vintage. For me, it's just part of it,
• 14:35
  Speaker 1: all right. Okay, tell me about the mood of the
• 14:39
  Speaker 1: building right now on this scene, it's you know, it
• 14:43
  Speaker 1: would seem like there is tremendous optimism based on last year.
• 14:47
  Speaker 1: But there's also a tone that liam setting of Hey,
• 14:51
  Speaker 1: last year's last year, and you've been around the league
• 14:54
  Speaker 1: long enough to know what happened last year, be it
• 14:58
  Speaker 1: four and thirteen or thirteen and four or doesn't really matter.
• 15:03
  Speaker 1: I guess the question is how much is that message
• 15:06
  Speaker 1: getting through to you guys?
• 15:08
  Speaker 5: Oh, for sure, that's that's the message that's being preaching.
• 15:11
  Speaker 5: I think everybody's buying into that, doesn't. Like you said,
• 15:13
  Speaker 5: it doesn't matter what you did last year. Everybody's coming
• 15:16
  Speaker 5: out to work and, like you said, trying to trying
• 15:18
  Speaker 5: to build up, build from last year, not necessarily looking
• 15:21
  Speaker 5: back at last year, but how can we get better? Like,
• 15:24
  Speaker 5: there's no point of dwelling on what you did last year,
• 15:26
  Speaker 5: but staying focused on how can we get better this year?
• 15:28
  Speaker 5: It doesn't matter what's going on. Let's let's, like I said,
• 15:31
  Speaker 5: put the cleats on and let's let's do it this year.
• 15:34
  Speaker 1: I gotta ask you, you went in last year as
• 15:37
  Speaker 1: basically the code started with Devin and he has an
• 15:40
  Speaker 1: all pro year. Everybody sort of knows his story. Not
• 15:45
  Speaker 1: that you needed confidence, but does that give you any
• 15:48
  Speaker 1: confidence of Hey, you know, this guy's an All Pro
• 15:51
  Speaker 1: and I was. You know, we were right there together.
• 15:53
  Speaker 1: I'm sure most of the season you're playing in situations
• 15:57
  Speaker 1: where he's not.
• 15:59
  Speaker 4: You can be that right, Uh, definitely, I know.
• 16:02
  Speaker 5: I felt I'm always been pretty confident in my abilities
• 16:05
  Speaker 5: and what I could bring a tribute to the team.
• 16:07
  Speaker 1: Uh.
• 16:08
  Speaker 4: But I feel like my coaches also.
• 16:09
  Speaker 5: Do a great job of keep stealing and stilling confidence
• 16:13
  Speaker 5: in me, whether that's Kunt coach Tim as well.
• 16:15
  Speaker 4: So, like you.
• 16:16
  Speaker 5: Said, they always want me to come out and get better,
• 16:18
  Speaker 5: regardless of my the situation or whatever. Like, they always
• 16:21
  Speaker 5: want the best out of me, so coach me hard.
• 16:23
  Speaker 5: I feel like that also raises the bar for me
• 16:25
  Speaker 5: being confident.
• 16:27
  Speaker 1: I may I may have asked this the last time
• 16:28
  Speaker 1: you did this, because it's such a striking feature about
• 16:31
  Speaker 1: you be when you were a rookie and hurting to
• 16:35
  Speaker 1: get a chance. Uh, even when times are tough, you
• 16:39
  Speaker 1: never see you not smiling on Is that is that fake?
• 16:45
  Speaker 1: Is that just who you are?
• 16:46
  Speaker 4: Do you?
• 16:46
  Speaker 1: Or what you've told me before? You just love being
• 16:50
  Speaker 1: around football, and you're gonna take that attitude for sure.
• 16:54
  Speaker 5: I definitely feel it's the joy of the lord h
• 16:56
  Speaker 5: for real, for real, But I don't know. I always
• 16:58
  Speaker 5: come into work with a smile on my face. It's
• 17:00
  Speaker 5: it's a blessing to be able to do what I'm doing.
• 17:02
  Speaker 5: It's a dream country. So why would I be mad?
• 17:05
  Speaker 5: You know what I'm saying. But even going through tough times,
• 17:08
  Speaker 5: I feel like it's also it's important to have a
• 17:10
  Speaker 5: positive mindset through things. Like I said, even the camaraderie,
• 17:14
  Speaker 5: being right in your teammate, they always bring a joy
• 17:16
  Speaker 5: to my face. So I'm always smiling with that just
• 17:19
  Speaker 5: me though for sure.
• 17:21
  Speaker 1: Ever been a time in the last three or four
• 17:22
  Speaker 1: years where you wondered is this gonna happen?
• 17:26
  Speaker 5: I mean, I guess that's my mindset every year for real.
• 17:29
  Speaker 5: But I always I always started to come come, not
• 17:35
  Speaker 5: sure when, but like I said, there's always the mindset
• 17:37
  Speaker 5: that's staying ready so you don't got to get ready.
• 17:38
  Speaker 5: So even times when when I get thrown in, being
• 17:41
  Speaker 5: ready like so, it's like no drop off when I'm
• 17:44
  Speaker 5: coming in. So I always, like I said, keeping that
• 17:46
  Speaker 5: positive mindset of trying to stay ready.
• 17:48
  Speaker 1: When you guys on defense talk about next year, what's
• 17:53
  Speaker 1: the goal? Where do you need to get better? And
• 17:56
  Speaker 1: how good do you guys think this unit can be
• 17:59
  Speaker 1: because there's a lot there.
• 18:02
  Speaker 5: To me personally, I mean, I feel like we're gonna
• 18:05
  Speaker 5: be pretty good. That just me personally before the cleats
• 18:07
  Speaker 5: come on. But I don't know, I feel like we
• 18:10
  Speaker 5: just got a good group. Everybody's really connected, and I
• 18:13
  Speaker 5: feel like teams always do good when they have a
• 18:15
  Speaker 5: great bond for real.
• 18:17
  Speaker 4: But like I said, I'm excited for the YEA.
• 18:18
  Speaker 5: Everybody's working hard, everybody's getting better and just coming like
• 18:22
  Speaker 5: it's the second year in the system for a lot
• 18:24
  Speaker 5: of guys, So I feel like we're gonna be a
• 18:26
  Speaker 5: lot better than than last year. And then just I
• 18:29
  Speaker 5: know it was good at stopping around. We had like
• 18:31
  Speaker 5: the number one round defense. But it's like I said,
• 18:33
  Speaker 5: continue to build on those things and stuff like that,
• 18:36
  Speaker 5: as far as like when we see like we messed up,
• 18:38
  Speaker 5: may have fitted wrong, but trying to get that better
• 18:40
  Speaker 5: for this years got you.
• 18:42
  Speaker 1: William said a couple of times in the offseason, maybe
• 18:45
  Speaker 1: in James h that obviously nothing guaranteed in terms of
• 18:50
  Speaker 1: role next year, but the fact that they didn't go
• 18:53
  Speaker 1: out and heavily address that position the week side backer
• 18:56
  Speaker 1: or the outside linebacker. You should give you confidence. Hey,
• 19:01
  Speaker 1: we believe that you can get the job done. Do
• 19:04
  Speaker 1: you feel that Did they give you any confidence?
• 19:06
  Speaker 5: I would say so definitely definitely felt the confidence, the
• 19:10
  Speaker 5: confidence that they had in me, uh coming into this year.
• 19:14
  Speaker 5: But I feel like regardless the mindset instead of saying,
• 19:16
  Speaker 5: you go out and compete to try to try to
• 19:18
  Speaker 5: win the spot. So that's the mindset coming in. But
• 19:20
  Speaker 5: it's definitely I felt like it helped. Well, I guess
• 19:24
  Speaker 5: relieved a little nerve, I guess a little bit.
• 19:26
  Speaker 4: But like I said, I'm still competing, still.
• 19:28
  Speaker 1: Trying to well because the outside talk everybody outside, Oh,
• 19:32
  Speaker 1: they've got to address this and it's Devin said. And
• 19:34
  Speaker 1: it was almost like people forgot that during camp and
• 19:37
  Speaker 1: even during part of the season. It was you guys
• 19:39
  Speaker 1: right there right, So people assumed it was going to
• 19:42
  Speaker 1: be this quote position of need and the Jaguars didn't
• 19:45
  Speaker 1: really look at it that way, and they said, hey,
• 19:46
  Speaker 1: we've got a guy who can do.
• 19:47
  Speaker 5: This, right, Like you said, that's just the confidence that
• 19:50
  Speaker 5: I feel like the coaching staff had in me. So
• 19:52
  Speaker 5: definitely happy about that, but like I said, going out
• 19:55
  Speaker 5: and trying to prove people wrong, that's that's that's my
• 19:58
  Speaker 5: mindset to the I.
• 20:00
  Speaker 1: Assume in your mind you haven't reached your ceiling yet.
• 20:04
  Speaker 5: Nah, Nah, that's a big Yeah.
• 20:08
  Speaker 4: Definitely.
• 20:09
  Speaker 5: Like I said, I'm excited for you. I'm excited to
• 20:11
  Speaker 5: really show people what I could really do. And like
• 20:13
  Speaker 5: I said, that's and this is before the season starts,
• 20:16
  Speaker 5: so I definitely got to earn earn the spot first.
• 20:18
  Speaker 5: But I said, I'm just excited, man, just to show everybody,
• 20:22
  Speaker 5: like what what y'all gonna have in the linebacker?
• 20:26
  Speaker 4: Got a lot to prove, Yeah, definitely.
• 20:31
  Speaker 5: Going on a contract, Yeah, a lot to prove, a
• 20:33
  Speaker 5: lot to show forth. For me, I always had the
• 20:37
  Speaker 5: mindset that I want to be the best best in
• 20:39
  Speaker 5: the league, all pro. So I'm still keeping that, still
• 20:42
  Speaker 5: keeping that mindset and trying to prove it this year.
• 20:44
  Speaker 1: Who do you mean on most Josh like that?
• 20:48
  Speaker 5: Yeah, has been a great, great guy, uh in the
• 20:52
  Speaker 5: in the locker room and position group.
• 20:54
  Speaker 4: Definitely a mentor.
• 20:55
  Speaker 2: Uh.
• 20:56
  Speaker 5: You can ask him whatever any questions I have. He's
• 20:58
  Speaker 5: always got to answer questions or how he's see things.
• 21:00
  Speaker 5: So he's been a great mantor to have an older
• 21:02
  Speaker 5: guy just that just played a lot of football to
• 21:05
  Speaker 5: really lean on, and I say coaches also do a
• 21:08
  Speaker 5: good job with that as well.
• 21:10
  Speaker 1: You've done this before so you may remember. The last
• 21:12
  Speaker 1: thing we do here is the ozone by quick questions,
• 21:19
  Speaker 1: they can be fun. Dentro, What was your last binge watch?
• 21:23
  Speaker 5: My last binge watch, I would say from it's a
• 21:28
  Speaker 5: it's a new it's a new little episode. They got
• 21:30
  Speaker 5: a new season now, but it's going week by week,
• 21:32
  Speaker 5: so I ain't been able to binge watch it.
• 21:34
  Speaker 4: But Ben's watched like.
• 21:35
  Speaker 5: The first the first three uh season from it's like
• 21:40
  Speaker 5: a I don't know, it's like a what I want
• 21:43
  Speaker 5: to say, like zombie type but I don't know. I
• 21:45
  Speaker 5: don't really know how to no no no. So it's
• 21:49
  Speaker 5: like everybody. It's like everybody gets stuck in this one place.
• 21:52
  Speaker 5: Come around, get stuck in this one place. But I
• 21:54
  Speaker 5: guess it's like it's not really it's real, but I
• 21:56
  Speaker 5: don't know, I know how to THERI it's like zombies.
• 21:59
  Speaker 5: But you get stuck in this place and you gotta
• 22:01
  Speaker 5: every day, you gotta try to survive.
• 22:03
  Speaker 4: Okay.
• 22:06
  Speaker 1: Podcast or music on the way in music?
• 22:10
  Speaker 4: Music for sure?
• 22:11
  Speaker 1: Last songs more, what.
• 22:13
  Speaker 5: Was my last song? This morning, I think it was.
• 22:16
  Speaker 5: It was probably something g Herbal g Herbal can't. I
• 22:19
  Speaker 5: forgot what the song was this morning, but I'm probably
• 22:21
  Speaker 5: listening to her coming in HEADO.
• 22:23
  Speaker 1: You know it's probably not my bag, right.
• 22:26
  Speaker 4: That's the younger, younger generation.
• 22:28
  Speaker 1: For sport other than football. Maybe for it sporter than
• 22:34
  Speaker 1: football that you were good at. That's right, you were
• 22:36
  Speaker 1: just football, you said.
• 22:37
  Speaker 4: Just that's really crazy. I don't really really play any
• 22:41
  Speaker 4: any other organized sports for you.
• 22:44
  Speaker 1: Just love it from the start.
• 22:45
  Speaker 4: Yeah, from the start.
• 22:46
  Speaker 5: Like I said, I played football year round, so I
• 22:48
  Speaker 5: was playing twice football twice a year in the summer
• 22:50
  Speaker 5: and in the winter.
• 22:51
  Speaker 1: First team name, the first team name.
• 22:54
  Speaker 4: As far as first team you ever played for the
• 22:57
  Speaker 4: first team.
• 22:58
  Speaker 5: The first team I actually played for was a jack
• 23:00
  Speaker 5: which is which is crazy, I guess.
• 23:02
  Speaker 4: But I played for the jah Wars. Next year. I
• 23:04
  Speaker 4: went to the Bucks in Yeah, Lakeland, Florida.
• 23:07
  Speaker 1: Okay, but what like what league?
• 23:10
  Speaker 5: Shout out up field is no longer a league no more?
• 23:13
  Speaker 4: But it was called dumb Field.
• 23:15
  Speaker 5: But talent Yeah, yeah, definitely some talent come out. But
• 23:19
  Speaker 5: I said, definitely was a little overlooked. I feel like
• 23:22
  Speaker 5: everybody went to the City League, like the Hurricanes and
• 23:25
  Speaker 5: stuff like that. But I mean I was like we
• 23:27
  Speaker 5: played on the same field.
• 23:28
  Speaker 4: Every every team played on the same field.
• 23:30
  Speaker 5: We had like a bunch of different teams out there
• 23:32
  Speaker 5: on the field at once during practice and stuff.
• 23:34
  Speaker 1: I got you.
• 23:35
  Speaker 5: It was a little slept down, but we got some guy.
• 23:37
  Speaker 5: We got some guys that came out of the show.
• 23:39
  Speaker 1: Back when I was covering high schools. Lake and was
• 23:40
  Speaker 1: okay in football, but Kathleen was it in basketball. Yeah,
• 23:45
  Speaker 1: played up here, big time program. On your biggest.
• 23:50
  Speaker 5: Influence, biggest influence, I would say ray lewis definitely god
• 23:55
  Speaker 5: coming from Kathleen High School and just did it at
• 23:58
  Speaker 5: the high level.
• 23:58
  Speaker 4: So that was definitely motivation for me.
• 24:00
  Speaker 5: He come around, yeah a little bit, A little bit
• 24:03
  Speaker 5: when I was younger. I actually had actually had a
• 24:05
  Speaker 5: ceremony and I think it was my junior year.
• 24:08
  Speaker 4: I went crazy, but I was getting.
• 24:11
  Speaker 5: Basically awarded by the news the newspaper. They awarded an award,
• 24:15
  Speaker 5: but he basically was the one to award me. That's
• 24:18
  Speaker 5: probably like the last time I seen him. But bit
• 24:20
  Speaker 5: motivation though, like I said, it's a guy that did
• 24:21
  Speaker 5: it at the highest level.
• 24:22
  Speaker 4: To come from where he come from.
• 24:23
  Speaker 5: So it was just good for me to see because
• 24:26
  Speaker 5: I can see it actually been, it can be done.
• 24:28
  Speaker 1: I got you now. The last question I had was
• 24:31
  Speaker 1: why your number? But you told me not a real
• 24:34
  Speaker 1: not a real connection to your number. So with this
• 24:37
  Speaker 1: big trend, everybody always wants to change their numbers. Yeah,
• 24:40
  Speaker 1: have you ever thought about trying to change or you're like, no,
• 24:43
  Speaker 1: I'm singing at fifty one.
• 24:44
  Speaker 5: Uh No, I never thought about trying to chairman. No,
• 24:47
  Speaker 5: I feel like I just like I said, I had
• 24:48
  Speaker 5: it since college, so that was the first number they
• 24:50
  Speaker 5: put me in.
• 24:50
  Speaker 4: But I don't.
• 24:51
  Speaker 5: I always felt like it's the player that makes the numbers.
• 24:53
  Speaker 5: So that's that's my standpoint on it.
• 24:56
  Speaker 1: For Suare enough Ventrol, I'll let you get back to it.
• 24:59
  Speaker 1: Thank you so much much for joining the ozone podcast today.
• 25:01
  Speaker 1: I appreciate it about it right in, no worries. Thank
• 25:03
  Speaker 1: you for having me. I like control.
• 25:05
  Speaker 2: Who doesn't. He's so animated.
• 25:08
  Speaker 3: You always know when he's talking to He's a very
• 25:10
  Speaker 3: specific pitch of scream and I always can hear pretty
• 25:13
  Speaker 3: much anywhere in the building.
• 25:15
  Speaker 1: And one thing he didn't get fully into when we talked,
• 25:20
  Speaker 1: so we can get into it because that's what we're
• 25:22
  Speaker 1: here for. And I got the impression we're talking to
• 25:27
  Speaker 1: VENTRALI right now he is very focused on this is
• 25:30
  Speaker 1: a big opportunity for him. Yeah, he knows that his
• 25:34
  Speaker 1: starting opportunity is not guaranteed. It's there for the taking.
• 25:39
  Speaker 1: There's a lot of guys that position. So he really
• 25:42
  Speaker 1: didn't want to really go, yeah, I'm the guy. He
• 25:44
  Speaker 1: wasn't really that in the interview. But it's interesting how
• 25:49
  Speaker 1: he has managed to maintain his optimism, his joy, which
• 25:57
  Speaker 1: he does walk around with some joy, and he's been
• 25:59
  Speaker 1: through some stuff absolutely, and his work to get here
• 26:05
  Speaker 1: even last year, you know, here in the here in
• 26:08
  Speaker 1: a co starting position, and then really, through no fault
• 26:11
  Speaker 1: of his own, Devin Lloyd just started playing and playing
• 26:14
  Speaker 1: so well that you couldn't not get him on the
• 26:17
  Speaker 1: you know, you could not take him off the field.
• 26:19
  Speaker 1: That had to be tough because he thought he was
• 26:21
  Speaker 1: going to play more than he did last year. But
• 26:24
  Speaker 1: he never seems to let it derail him. I guess
• 26:27
  Speaker 1: is what I'm getting at.
• 26:29
  Speaker 3: How I don't think you could ask for more perfect
• 26:31
  Speaker 3: situation for him this season because it's really okay, go
• 26:34
  Speaker 3: out and prove it.
• 26:34
  Speaker 2: We have faith in you that you can do this job.
• 26:37
  Speaker 3: We haven't gone and gotten anybody because we were overly concerned.
• 26:40
  Speaker 2: It's his job to lose.
• 26:41
  Speaker 3: In my opinion at this point, and from what we've
• 26:44
  Speaker 3: seen so far with this regime, they give people the
• 26:47
  Speaker 3: opportunity to earn their spots and keep it right. So
• 26:50
  Speaker 3: even you know they inherited the running back situation last year,
• 26:53
  Speaker 3: there was four guys going into camp, didn't know who
• 26:56
  Speaker 3: that what that was going to look like, and traves
• 26:57
  Speaker 3: etn bought into the program and excel and did amazing
• 27:01
  Speaker 3: in the offense last year.
• 27:02
  Speaker 2: This is an opportunity.
• 27:04
  Speaker 3: And even Devin Lloyd last year, they put him in
• 27:05
  Speaker 3: a new system where he could success, where he could
• 27:08
  Speaker 3: have success, and he was amazing, got himself a brand
• 27:10
  Speaker 3: new contract. So I think this is an opportunity for
• 27:13
  Speaker 3: Ventro Miller. They're giving him that, and not that he
• 27:15
  Speaker 3: hasn't earned it. He's going to need to earn it,
• 27:18
  Speaker 3: but he has that opportunity. They believe in him, They
• 27:20
  Speaker 3: think he can play this role and the season will
• 27:22
  Speaker 3: be big.
• 27:23
  Speaker 2: For him to prove them right or wrong. But I
• 27:25
  Speaker 2: think right it is probably I think he can do it.
• 27:27
  Speaker 1: I think he'll I think I don't know if he'll
• 27:30
  Speaker 1: have five interceptions the way Devin Lloyd did that.
• 27:33
  Speaker 2: I think from that position, that's hard to expect there
• 27:35
  Speaker 2: to hear.
• 27:36
  Speaker 1: But I don't think when you ask people inside the
• 27:39
  Speaker 1: building at the end of this year, I mean, at
• 27:41
  Speaker 1: the end of twenty twenty six, I'll be surprised if
• 27:44
  Speaker 1: they say, boy, we really dropped off because we didn't
• 27:46
  Speaker 1: have Devin and it was I think there's every confidence
• 27:49
  Speaker 1: within the building that the defense will be as good
• 27:53
  Speaker 1: or better with Vinterrol Miller playing there. He may bring
• 27:56
  Speaker 1: different strengths, but I've never gotten any sense that they're
• 28:00
  Speaker 1: worried about that spot.
• 28:01
  Speaker 2: No, I don't think. So let's do some ozone questions
• 28:04
  Speaker 2: close this out.
• 28:04
  Speaker 1: Fantastic, all right?
• 28:05
  Speaker 3: We got James from Titus phil He says, which year
• 28:08
  Speaker 3: do you think the Jaguars have drafted the best in
• 28:10
  Speaker 3: franchise history?
• 28:12
  Speaker 2: You weren't here for all of them, but you were
• 28:13
  Speaker 2: here for a lot of them.
• 28:14
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean the ones that was here for. I
• 28:17
  Speaker 1: think most people would say it's ninety six when they
• 28:19
  Speaker 1: drafted Kevin Hardy, Aaron Beasley and Tony Brackens were their
• 28:25
  Speaker 1: first three draft picks, I mean, not too bad that.
• 28:27
  Speaker 1: And then in sixteen they drafted Jalen Ramsey, Miles Jack
• 28:30
  Speaker 1: and Unique and Gockway, and both of those trios sort
• 28:35
  Speaker 1: of had the same effect on the defense. The nineties
• 28:38
  Speaker 1: trio had a little more sustainability. These twenty sixteen trio
• 28:47
  Speaker 1: was a little more interesting in the locker.
• 28:49
  Speaker 2: Room, a little more of a flash and a lot
• 28:50
  Speaker 2: of personality.
• 28:51
  Speaker 1: But both good players, I mean both drafts of good players,
• 28:56
  Speaker 1: and both to certain levels of success that you probably
• 29:02
  Speaker 1: wouldn't have had without them. And look, the ninety five
• 29:06
  Speaker 1: draft had a Hall of Famer in it, and when
• 29:08
  Speaker 1: you have a Hall of Famer in your draft.
• 29:10
  Speaker 2: Excuse the draft class a little bit to the better.
• 29:12
  Speaker 1: Well, yeah, I mean one thing about the draft it's
• 29:15
  Speaker 1: interesting is everybody picks apart every draft, and if there's
• 29:19
  Speaker 1: one guy who didn't make it, it's a bad draft. Right,
• 29:22
  Speaker 1: No draft doesn't have misses. So that's sort of my
• 29:26
  Speaker 1: thoughts on that.
• 29:27
  Speaker 3: It's closer to baseball, where you hit three hundred and
• 29:29
  Speaker 3: it's a success.
• 29:30
  Speaker 1: It's close to that. It's a lot of close to
• 29:32
  Speaker 1: people think, all right.
• 29:33
  Speaker 3: Theodore from Jacksonville says, how many wins do you see
• 29:36
  Speaker 3: on the schedule this season? And can the Jaguars repeat
• 29:38
  Speaker 3: as division champs?
• 29:40
  Speaker 1: Well, I chose this one because it's one of about
• 29:44
  Speaker 1: eight hundred questions like that that I get from the
• 29:47
  Speaker 1: time that the schedule comes out till the start of
• 29:50
  Speaker 1: the season. I don't necessarily know. I'm not one to
• 29:55
  Speaker 1: go game by game through the schedule and say, Okay,
• 29:57
  Speaker 1: they're gonna win this, They're gonna win this. I'd be
• 30:01
  Speaker 1: surprised looking at the schedule if they're I think they'll
• 30:06
  Speaker 1: be somewhere four and two going into the by four
• 30:09
  Speaker 1: and two, three and three, because I think it's tough.
• 30:11
  Speaker 3: And that's the tough part of the schedule too, though,
• 30:13
  Speaker 3: so you feel like they can get through at four
• 30:14
  Speaker 3: and two, that's a good team.
• 30:15
  Speaker 1: And then I think at that point you'll find out
• 30:19
  Speaker 1: about injuries, you'll find out what you are. I think
• 30:24
  Speaker 1: this will be a team like it was last year.
• 30:28
  Speaker 1: Whereas the season gets going, I think they will get
• 30:32
  Speaker 1: better and better. And the reason I say that is
• 30:34
  Speaker 1: that's what they did in Tampa when Liam was there
• 30:36
  Speaker 1: the last year. He's really good at figuring out, Okay,
• 30:40
  Speaker 1: this is what we're doing. This is what we need
• 30:42
  Speaker 1: to do. So you get to the bye with this
• 30:45
  Speaker 1: team with Liam three and two, four and two in
• 30:49
  Speaker 1: that range. I think his history shows that he can
• 30:53
  Speaker 1: hit the accelerator at that point. So I think I've
• 30:57
  Speaker 1: been saying anywhere between eleven and six and thirteen and four.
• 31:01
  Speaker 1: Sometimes when I say that, people are I mean they're
• 31:03
  Speaker 1: gonna get worse. Eleven and six and thirteen and four
• 31:07
  Speaker 1: pretty similar records in the NFL get in. I think
• 31:10
  Speaker 1: they'll get in. I think they'll have double digit wins.
• 31:12
  Speaker 3: Those are get in records, and that's what's most important
• 31:15
  Speaker 3: is making the postseason and going from there.
• 31:16
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean they'll be panic, you know, sure when
• 31:19
  Speaker 1: they lose a game.
• 31:21
  Speaker 3: They'd rather they get eleven wins and win in the
• 31:23
  Speaker 3: first round of the playoffs than have more wins and not.
• 31:27
  Speaker 3: So that's something to keep an eye on, but we
• 31:29
  Speaker 3: won't know until they play our final. One from mail
• 31:32
  Speaker 3: bag is Mark from Archer. He says, why is Jimmy
• 31:34
  Speaker 3: Smith not talked about for the Hall of Fame more?
• 31:37
  Speaker 1: Well, and with these questions, I knew we were talking
• 31:40
  Speaker 1: a little bit more about immediacly at the top. So
• 31:42
  Speaker 1: it seemed like a good week to get into some history.
• 31:46
  Speaker 1: Jimmy Smith isn't talked about for the Hall of Fame
• 31:49
  Speaker 1: because it's a flawed process. He absolutely should be. He's
• 31:56
  Speaker 1: around here a little more now and if you yeah,
• 31:58
  Speaker 1: I've seen him at Otis. He's working with the receivers
• 32:03
  Speaker 1: a little bit, not necessarily on the field, but he's
• 32:05
  Speaker 1: around a little bit more and I'm not sure exactly
• 32:08
  Speaker 1: what the role is with the receivers, but it has
• 32:12
  Speaker 1: been great to see him, and he for a while
• 32:19
  Speaker 1: was a guy who wasn't around here as much as
• 32:23
  Speaker 1: I would have liked, because I love Jimmy. He's one
• 32:27
  Speaker 1: of the best two or three players his franchise has
• 32:30
  Speaker 1: ever had. He doesn't get the credit that he should
• 32:35
  Speaker 1: because he didn't score a lot of touchdowns compared to
• 32:37
  Speaker 1: some of the other guys. But for when he played,
• 32:42
  Speaker 1: it was for multiple years, it was Jerry Rice and
• 32:47
  Speaker 1: Jimmy Smith, and it was Randy mosson Jimmy Smith. Jimmy
• 32:50
  Speaker 1: Smith was on a level just just below those guys.
• 32:54
  Speaker 1: If you look at his numbers, I think it's eight
• 32:57
  Speaker 1: of nine thousand yard seasons he had in a row.
• 32:59
  Speaker 1: In the one year he didn't get it. He missed
• 33:01
  Speaker 1: four games and had nine hundred. I hope someday the
• 33:07
  Speaker 1: people who really are involved with the Hall voting process
• 33:10
  Speaker 1: go back and look at Jimmy. Fred's really overlooked. Jimmy
• 33:15
  Speaker 1: is just as overlooked. He's a Hall of Fame player,
• 33:20
  Speaker 1: had a Hall of Fame career, and I hope some
• 33:22
  Speaker 1: daygats Is do.
• 33:23
  Speaker 3: It's tough because, as you mentioned Fred being overlooked as well.
• 33:26
  Speaker 3: There's always like something, whether it's touchdowns or for Fred
• 33:29
  Speaker 3: it's Pro Bowls, and I think as we move along,
• 33:32
  Speaker 3: the Pro Bowl is not the same, so maybe that'll
• 33:34
  Speaker 3: shift a little bit.
• 33:35
  Speaker 2: But it's so tough, and a lot of it.
• 33:36
  Speaker 3: Is marketing and pitching them and the process and getting
• 33:40
  Speaker 3: it to move along.
• 33:41
  Speaker 2: So it's very it's convoluted.
• 33:43
  Speaker 3: It's a little tough, and obviously we feel like some
• 33:45
  Speaker 3: of the guys here really should be recognized more.
• 33:48
  Speaker 1: But for both of those guys, and when I talk
• 33:52
  Speaker 1: to Hall voters about that era, what I say is
• 33:57
  Speaker 1: they made two AFC Championship games. Fred was in a
• 34:00
  Speaker 1: round for the first one, but Tony and Jimmy wore.
• 34:05
  Speaker 1: They don't make four straight playoff appearances, have the best
• 34:09
  Speaker 1: record in ninety nine without Jimmy Smith. Jimmy Smith's best
• 34:14
  Speaker 1: year was ninety nine when it was the Jaguars best year.
• 34:17
  Speaker 1: He had sixteen He had sixteen hundred yards receiving, and
• 34:20
  Speaker 1: he was as unstoppable that year as any receiver I've
• 34:24
  Speaker 1: been around. And I covered Marvin Harrison when he was
• 34:25
  Speaker 1: a Hall of Famer, covered Reggie Wayne was a Hall
• 34:28
  Speaker 1: of Famer. I think both of those guys are Hall
• 34:30
  Speaker 1: of famers. Jimmy Smith is in that same world. Had
• 34:35
  Speaker 1: Jimmy played with the Colts with Peyton Manning and that offense,
• 34:40
  Speaker 1: he's a walk in Hall of Famer because of the
• 34:42
  Speaker 1: way they played. So again, I for as long as
• 34:49
  Speaker 1: I cover this league and talk about football, I would
• 34:51
  Speaker 1: say Jimmy Smith's one of the most underrated players of
• 34:55
  Speaker 1: that era. And all you have to do for Jimmy
• 34:57
  Speaker 1: and Fred talk to the guys who had play against him.
• 35:01
  Speaker 1: There's a reason teams are good and you can't stop him.
• 35:05
  Speaker 1: Jimmy Smith and Fred Taylor are the reason the Jaguars
• 35:07
  Speaker 1: were good.
• 35:08
  Speaker 2: I like these history questions. I have another get to
• 35:10
  Speaker 2: know zone questions.
• 35:11
  Speaker 1: Okay, get to know zone?
• 35:13
  Speaker 3: Yeah, some people don't want to get to know zone well,
• 35:16
  Speaker 3: they time to click off.
• 35:19
  Speaker 2: I tried to tie it in a little bit with
• 35:20
  Speaker 2: so Ventrell.
• 35:21
  Speaker 3: Obviously, I think one of the hardest hitters on this
• 35:24
  Speaker 3: current team. And obviously you've covered the league for a while,
• 35:27
  Speaker 3: so you got to cover it when people were allowed
• 35:29
  Speaker 3: to hit a little bit harder. Who's the hardest hitter
• 35:32
  Speaker 3: that you've seen or what was the hardest hit you've
• 35:34
  Speaker 3: seen in a game.
• 35:36
  Speaker 1: I think I missed a lot of his career here.
• 35:39
  Speaker 1: Most fans who are listening to this probably covered or
• 35:43
  Speaker 1: probably watched Donovan Darius play. Donovan Darius the safety for
• 35:47
  Speaker 1: the Jaguars from ninety nine to I think it was
• 35:49
  Speaker 1: two thousand and eight. I didn't cover most of his career.
• 35:53
  Speaker 1: He was hit, He really hit. So he's up there.
• 36:00
  Speaker 1: It's easier to see it from this agey position. Trayvon
• 36:03
  Speaker 1: hits now, I mean he does.
• 36:05
  Speaker 3: He's He's not flying in like a bullet, but he'll
• 36:08
  Speaker 3: It's like you hit a wall.
• 36:09
  Speaker 1: I don't want to get hit by him, certainly not
• 36:11
  Speaker 1: so Travon's up there. Trying to think of guys who
• 36:16
  Speaker 1: played on the seventeen team, I'm probably missing somebody off
• 36:22
  Speaker 1: that team. They were a turnover team and a sack team.
• 36:28
  Speaker 1: Tony Bracken's really maybe not hitting, but played at a
• 36:32
  Speaker 1: high level. Darryl Smith hit hard, and and Paus had
• 36:38
  Speaker 1: some hits. I mean, yeah, some of the middle linebackers
• 36:41
  Speaker 1: were we're really good players. But I would say Donovan's
• 36:47
  Speaker 1: the guy in Jaguar's lore that stands out. I don't know,
• 36:53
  Speaker 1: it's harder now with the rules to hit as hard
• 36:59
  Speaker 1: as he did at sage position because they've really tried
• 37:02
  Speaker 1: to bring it in a little bit for players safety,
• 37:06
  Speaker 1: and a Donovan in the time that I saw him play,
• 37:10
  Speaker 1: I don't look at him and say, oh, he was
• 37:12
  Speaker 1: taking advantage of the rules, But most safeties back then
• 37:16
  Speaker 1: played with a little more abandoned because there wasn't as
• 37:20
  Speaker 1: much risk in terms of penalties and fines as there
• 37:23
  Speaker 1: is now.
• 37:24
  Speaker 2: And they wanted to set that tone of making you
• 37:26
  Speaker 2: scared to go over the middle. Yeah, double think about
• 37:28
  Speaker 2: it before.
• 37:28
  Speaker 1: That's harder to do now they've changed the game a
• 37:30
  Speaker 1: little bit with that. So I got to go Donovan
• 37:33
  Speaker 1: with that one. Cool and that's it. Thank you Kai
• 37:39
  Speaker 1: forgot coming to the Ozone podcast, and again thanks very
• 37:42
  Speaker 1: much to Vtrel Miller who I think people enjoyed listening to,
• 37:46
  Speaker 1: And that's the Ozone Podcast